02 March 2004	Tuesday	10 Muharram 1425

TOBA TEK SINGH, March 1: Police claimed on Monday that they had arrested the alleged killer of the son of a Gojra jeweller. DPO Saad Akhtar Bharwana told newsmen that Zain, 7, was killed by his brother Younis Ali on the night of Feb 18.

He produced Younis before Nazim and councillors where he confessed to killing his brother so that he could get sympathies of his brother who was residing in Bahrain. The DPO claimed that Younis was suffering from some psychological ailment.

He said Younis told police that he took Zain to nearby canal where he pushed him into the water as a result which he drowned. Meanwhile, Doctors of Gojra THQ Hospital have sent various parts of the body of Zain to Lahore for forensic tests to ascertain the cause of the death of the boy.

Anjuman Tajiran general secretary and boy's uncle Rana Khalid Mahmood told newsmen that police authorities had assured the jewellers that the killers of the boy would be traced soon as the case has been transferred from Gojra city police station SHO to Nawan Lahore police SHO.

He warned that if Gojra city SHO was not suspended from service, jewellers would launch a protest movement. He said the association had given a three-day deadline to transfer the Gojra city SHO who had refused to register a case even after one week of the disappearance of the boy.

Jewellers of Toba, Gojra, Kamalia and Pirmahal observed strike on Saturday and Sunday and brought out protest processions against police failure to trace the killers of the boy.

IRRIGATION: No TA/DA has been paid to the employees of irrigation department for the last two years. This was stated here on Monday by Irrigation employees Union (CBA) central leader Allah Bakhsh Sial at a press conference here.

He claimed that the department owed millions of rupees to the low-grade employees who worked in field. He held red tapism responsible for nonpayment of even legitimate dues to the workers. Mr Sial warned that if the bills were not cleared, the workers would be forced to launch a movement against the authorities concerned.